As the world is being challenged with a global pandemic of the Coronavirus, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha is providing spiritual and social solace for devotees and well-wishers through various online forums. After suspending all local spiritual and charitable activities at its 3,850 centers worldwide, including its 125 centers across North America in an effort to combat the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), devotees are participating in novel online programs to continue Satsang at home.
The closures across the world posed a major challenge for all ages and backgrounds that participate in weekly assemblies, spiritual discourses, and community charity initiatives. In order to maintain spiritual continuity, BAPS initiated webcasts in lieu of their regular services in the United States and Canada, as well as other centers throughout the world.
In North America, every week there will be four separate webcasts in multiple languages based on different age groups – children under the age of 13, adolescents between the ages of 14 and 22, young adults up to the age of 35 and the fourth for those over the age of 35. Similar webcasts will also be transmitted in other parts of the world.
These webcasts offer a unique online experience to devotees and well-wishers, supplementing other technological mediums such as social messaging, conference call goshthis, online video platforms, and the official BAPS website to help stay virtually connected amidst social distancing efforts.
On Sunday, March 15, 2020, BAPS congregants of North America also took part in the National Day of Prayer initiative. Under the guidance of the current spiritual head of BAPS, His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj, a special prayer was said in homes throughout the world for the well-being of all those affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Presented here is a small sample of the ‘Satsang at Home’ experience of thousands of families in North America.